Cyclone Titli makes landfall at Odisha's Gopalpur

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"Very severe" cyclonic storm Titli made landfall in Gopalpur in Odisha Thursday morning, accompanied by very heavy rainfall and gusty winds in the coastal areas.

The depression over the Bay of Bengal intensified on Tuesday and moved towards the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh coast before taking the shape of a cyclonic storm.

Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds lashed the town in the morning.

Earlier on Wednesday, over three lakh people living in low lying areas in five coastal districts had been evacuated. Evacuation was carried out from five coastal districts of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara.

Officials have been instructed to be on alert and restore all damage to road, water and electricity connections after the storm hits.

Fishermen have been instructed to stay away from the sea.

NDRF has deployed 15 teams in Orissa, 4 teams in Andhra and 3 teams in West Bengal along with necessary rescue equipment. Of the 15 teams of the NDRF, 13 have been deployed along with the Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force at vulnerable places.

In view of the IMD's forecast of heavy to very heavy rainfall, the state government has ordered closure of all schools, colleges and anganwadi centres across the state today and tomorrow.

After the landfall, the cyclonic storm is expected to re-curve north-eastwards and move long Odisha coast towards Gangetic West Bengal and will cause heavy to very heavy rainfall.